I changed the timing belt on the civic. Putting it back together, I lined up the crank and cam indicators before putting on the belt. After the belt was installed and belt tightened, I rotated the engine by hand and checked that the marks were still good. Car started and ran good, but with a timing light, the timing appeared to be way off.... close to 180 deg on the crank pulley and the service connector at the right kick panel was jumpered. Pulled #1 plug and verified top dead center and checked distributor rotor to verify on #1 plug.... all good. Can anyone help/explain why I can't get the timing on the car?

 

Did you put Cylinder #1 at TDC before you removed the belt? Did you check the rotor to make sure the orientation was Cylinder #1?

 

Did you forget to re-install the small metal key that holds the crank pulley in the correct fixed position?

 

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are you sure you lined up to the right timing marks. I know depending on what engine you have it can be rather confusing. Make sure you know your engine type and you check in a manual where your timing marks are. what year civic do you have and what engine type? for example a d15b7?

 

you lined it up on the single line one the pulley or the three line?
its gotta be on the single line